ABOUT ROLLER DERBY

Roller Derby Minnesota

Roller Derby evolved from skating races in USA in the 1930s. After a peek in the 50s and 60s it’s popularity declined. In the early 2000s the sport was reborn i Austin, Texas, in an all-female, DIY-spirit. Since then it has been called the fastest growing sport in the world with leagues from Japan and Egypt to Iceland and Argentina.

The first Swedish derby league, Stockholm Roller Derby, was established in 2007 and today about 27 leagues are registered by The Swedish Skating Association (Svenska Skridskoförbundet) and numerous teams are up and coming!

Flat Track Roller Derby is, as the name sugests, played on a flat, circuit track. Each teams four blockers help their jammer to score points by passing the opponents while at the same time trying to stop the other jammer from passing and scoring by blocking and hitting. The team with the most points by the end of the two 30 minutes periods wins.

Each period is divided into jams of maximum two minutes. At the beginning of each jam the bockers lines upp in front of the jammer line building a ”pack” with the jammers behind. When the start whistle blows the jammers tries to pass the pack which moves counter clockwise. The first jammer trough on the ”initial pass” becomes ”lead jammer” and therefore has the ability to call of the jam by touching her hips before the end of the two minutes. After passing the pack for the first time the jammers now have the ability to score points by skating around the track and getting trough the pack again. The team receives one point for each opposite blocker the jammer passes on each lap. The blockers tries to prevent this by blocking and hitting while helping their own jammer and ”staying in bounds” of the pack. If a skater breaks one of the many rules, by for example making an illegal hit or skating outside of the track, it gets to spend 30 seconds in the penalty box and its team has to manage with one player less.

Read more about the game and the rules at website of WFTDA (Women’s Flat Track Derby Association)​http://wftda.com